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University  of  NortK  Carolina 

This  book  was  presented  by 

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Hon.  Benjamin  Franklin  Long 

JUDGE  OF  THE  SUPERIOR  COURTS 
OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 


i       Published  Opinions  on  Two  Important  Cases:       § 


|    State  vs.  Southern  Railway  Co.,  et  al    j 
1  State  vs.  George  Hall 

-' '  ''■■■.  -  *;|.;m: -:;,:■.':;■• .::'.. ".,::,!,:,  !:!!;■:'!:'■'■  . : " ^i'::^ :  ■-.;  .::'i;    :  ,1,:,;:V;;:i;rii;: 


Together  With  an  Introductory  Letter  to  his  Son 

BY 

HENRY  JEROME   STOCKARD 


Raleigh;  N".  C,  December  25,  1912. 
Mr.  Mackendrie  E.  Long, 

Amsterdam,  Holland. 

Dear.  Sir  :  It  happened  I  was  near  at  hand  and  had 
opportunity  to  note  specially  the  trial  of  two  important 
cases  by  your  father,  both  of  which  attracted  national 
attention. 

The  pursuit  of  your  studies  has  detained  you  from  home 
so  long  I  can  understand  how  you  may  not  have  been  able 
always  to  keep  fully  informed  as  to  the  march  of  events  in 
your  native  State,  even  though  your  father's  labors  may,  at 
times,  have  been  connected  with  these  events.  I'm  quite 
sure  the  perusal  of  this  little  pamphlet  will  furnish  you  in- 
formation you  have  not  fully  possessed  before. 

Your  father  has  performed  certainly  two  distinct  services 
for  the  State  and  country,  either  of  which  should  and  will 
render  his  name  rememberable.  One  of  these  is  his  decision 
in  the  Rate  War  Case,  which  led  to  a  compromise  of  passen- 
ger rates  between  the  South  Atlantic  States  and  the  railroads, 
1907  and  1908.  The  other  is  his  judgment  in  the  Lynching 
Case,  1906,  when  he  placed  lynching  under  ban  by  sentenc- 
ing to  the  penitentiary  for  fifteen  years  a  white  man,  a  mem- 
ber of  a  mob,  for  his  part  in  the  notable  lynching  of  several 
negroes  in  Rowan  County. 

A  significant  fact  related  to  the  latter  case  is,  there  has  not 
been  a  lynching  in  ISTorth  Carolina  since  that  trial ;  and,  in 
connection  with  the  former  case,  there  are  several  facts 
worthy  of  note. 

Layman  though  you  may  be,  it  may  be  a  matter  of  his- 
torical interest  to  you  to  know  that,  so  far  as  I'm  advised, 
there  never  was  but  one  opinion  of  a  Judge  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States  that  resulted  promptly  in  an 
amendment  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 

On  February  18,  1793,  James  Iredell  delivered  his 
famous  dissenting  opinion  in  the  case  of  Chisholm  Exrs.  v. 
Georgia,  2  Dallas,  419   (United  States  Supreme  Court  Re- 


ports).  The  majority  opinion  held  that  "a  State  could  be 
made  a  party  defendant  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States  at  the  suit  of  a  private  citizen  of  another  State  for 
debt," 

Carson,  in  his  "History  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States/'  says :  "Iredell  alone  dissented  in  an  opin- 
ion of  which  it  has  been  truly  declared  that  it  enunciates 
either  directly  or  by  implication  all  the  leading  principles 
of  what  has  become  known  as  State's  Rights  Doctrine,  and 
which,  as  a  mere  legal  argument,  was  far  superior  in  close- 
ness of  reasoning  to  Wilson's  or  Jay's."* 

Two  days  after  the  opinion  was  delivered,  the  Eleventh 
Amendment  to  the  Constitution  was  proposed  in  Congress, 
and  formally  acted  upon  by  that  body  December,  1793,  and 
declared  adopted  by  the  several  States,  January  8,  1798. 

While  your  father  was  giving  interpretation  to  a  plain 
criminal  statute  and  enforcing  it,  in  the  rate  case — inci- 
dentally— the  action  of  the  Federal  Judge  to  interfere  re- 
quired his  interpretation  of  this  Eleventh  Amendment — 
109  years  after  its  ratification. 

His  own  adopted  county  of  Iredell  was  named  after  Judge 
Iredell.  Isn't  it  a  strange  coincidence  that  a  lawyer  (country 
lawyer  at  that)  from  Iredell  was  called  upon  in  a  crisis  to 
give  interpretation  to  this  creature  of  the  fundamental  law, 
born  of  the  brain  of  Judge  Iredell  (a  country  lawyer)  dis- 
covered and  put  on  the  Supreme  Court  bench  in  1792  by 
Washington  ? 

I  present  in  this  pamphlet  only  a  few  opinions  selected 
from  a.  large  number  of  leading  journals  of  the  country, 
which,  I  hope,  may  prove  an  acceptable  holiday  tribute ; 
while,  at  the  same  time,  it  will  preserve  to  you  and  his  kin- 
dred a  record  of  which  I,  as  one  of  the  latter,  am  proud. 
Yours  truly, 

Henry  Jerome  Stockard. 


*  Carson's  Hist.  Sup.  Court  U.  S.,  Vol.  1,  pp.  170-177. 


The  Rate  War  Case,  1907 

(Raleigh  News  and  Observer,  August  1907. ) 

Iii  July  it  was  the  privilege  of  Judge  Long  to  be  called 
upon  to  serve  his  State  at  a  moment  when  there  was  need  of 
a  man  who  had  the  firmness  to  meet  the  call  of  a  crisis  and 
the  poise  to  hold  the  straight  course  of  his  office  and  its  re- 
sponsibilities without  wavering  on  the  one  hand  or  forget- 
ting himself  in  passion  on  the  other.  In  the  face  of  a  notori- 
ous violation  of  the  law  he  did  not  hesitate  either  on  account 
of  the  prominence  of  the  criminal  or  the  power  of  the  Court 
with  which  it  was  allied  to  demand  of  the  grand  jury  that  it 
bring  its  indictments  for  crime.  Surrounded  by  zealous  men 
of  the  people  applauding  his  course,  he  sank  whatever  feeling 
of  a  partisan  he  may  have  had  to  the  end  of  the  orderly  and 
legal  determination  of  the  question  at  issue.  Without  con- 
sultation, without  suggestion,  without  feeling,  without  any 
motive  except  to  hold  the  scales  of  justice  evenly,  he  delivered 
his  now  famous  charge  to  the  grand  jury,  touching  upon  the 
criminal  section  of  the  rate  law.  The  charge  of  Judge  Long 
was  read  in  every  neighborhood  in  North  Carolina,  and  the 
substance  of  it  was  read  and  discussed  in  every  State  in  the 
Union.  With  calmness,  with  deliberation,  with  every  proper 
consideration  to  the  accused  the  cases  were  heard  in  Wake 
court.  That  charge  by  Judge  Long  and  his  subsequent  firm 
and  able  discharge  of  a  high  duty  with  calmness  in  a  time 
of  much  public  excitement  will  always  live  in  Xorth  Caro- 
lina. It  was  noticed  that  Xorth  Carolina,  as  a  sovereign 
State,  would  proceed  with  the  administration  of  its  crim- 
inal law  without  being  influenced  in  the  least  by  injunctions 
or  threats  from  any  quarter,  judicial  or  otherwise.  From 
the  day  he  delivered  the  charge  until  the  hour  when  he  fixed 
the  fine  upon  the  Southern  Railway  and  its  agent,  and 
thereby  upheld  the  dignity  of  the  courts  of  North  Carolina, 
Judge  Long  showed  the  highest  judicial  qualities  and  in  all 
the  days  of  tense/feeling  was  as  deliberate  and  judicial  and 
fair  as  in  the  trial  of  the  most  trifling  criminal  case  that 


came  before  his  court.  It  is  sucb  judges  and  sucb  prompt 
execution  of  tbe  criminal  law  that  are  needed  to  give  public 
confidence  and  honor  to  tbe  judiciary.  His  quiet  resolve  to 
enforce  tbe  law  against  a  powerful  railroad  just  as  be  would 
enforce  it  against  tbe  bumblest  violator  of  tbe  law  gave  fresb 
faith  and  trust  in  tbe  judicial  department  of  our  State  gov- 
ernment. His  rulings  will  stand  approved  by  tbe  test  of 
time. 

After  tbe  Wake  County  grand  jury  bad  found  tbe  indict- 
ments, tbe  solicitor,  burdened  with  a  beavy  docket,  requested 
counsel  to  assist  in  the  prosecution.  Upon  application 
through  Judge  Long  for  counsel,  Governor  Glenn  employed 
ex-Governor  Aycock  and  Speaker  Justice  as  general  counsel 
to  prosecute  in  Wake  or  elsewhere  and  to  advise  with  him  in 
all  matters  growing  out  of  the  litigation,  and  Mr.  S.  G. 
Ryan  to  assist  in  the  Wake  cases. 


(  Philadelphia  Record,  September  1,  1907.) 

No  legal  controversy  of  recent  years  has  aroused  such  gen- 
eral interest  as  that  regarding  the  rights  of  States  and  the 
constitutional  limits  of  the  powers  of  the  Federal  Judiciary, 
which  is  now  on  in  North  Carolina.     *     *     * 


( Col.  F.  A.  Olds  in  Philadelphia  Record,  September  7,  1907.) 

*  *  *  Nobody  bad  ever  construed  the  rate  law  in 
North  Carolina  or  passed  upon  it.  Judge  Pritchard,  on 
June  29,  found  he  could  not  declare  it  invalid  upon  the  facts 
before  him,  but  he  undertook  to  suspend  it.  When  this  was 
done  it  fell  to  the  lot  of  Judge  Benjamin  Franklin  Long,  then 
holding  the  Superior  Court  in  the  county  of  Wake,  of  which 
Raleigh  is  the  county  seat,  to  take  up  the  Legislative  act 
fixing  the  rate  at  2%  cents,  and  also  to  take  up  Judge  Pritch- 
ard's  order  on  tbe  eighth  of  July,  and  to  say  what  these 
things  all  meant  and  whether  North  Carolina  in  one  of  its 
own  Courts  had  a  right  to  enforce  its  own  laws,  as  enacted 
by  its  own  Legislature,  and  as  directed  by  its  own  supreme 
lawmaking  power,  and  further,  whether  a  Federal  Judge  had 


the  jurisdiction  to  do  what  Judge  Pritchard  had  done,  and 
whether  Judge  Pritehard's  order  suspended  the  North  Caro- 
lina law. 

The  rulings  of  Judge  Long  are,  of  course,  well  known. 
They  put  the  machinery  of  the  North  Carolina  criminal  laws 
in  motion.  If  the  trial  had  failed  the  law  would  not  now  be 
in  force.  If  Judge  Long's  ruling  would  and  could  take  the 
case  direct  and  straight  to  a  verdict  and  judgment  without 
clash  between  the  State  and  Federal  Courts  then  the  battle 
in  the  State  Court  was  won.  The  remainder  was  for  the 
Supreme  Court  to  pass  upon. 

From  July  8th  to  the  15th  of  that  month  Judge  Long,  so 
far  as  the  officers  of  the  State  were  concerned,  was  supported 
by  Solicitor  Armistead  Jones  alone.  Public  opinion,  due 
deliberation,  and  the  justice  of  the  thing,  one  or  all,  brought 
to  the  aid  of  Judge  Long  on  the  15th  of  July  ex-Governor 
Charles  B.  Aycock  and  Speaker  Edward  J.  Justice,  of  the 
Lower  House  of  the  Legislature,  to  aid  Solicitor  Jones.  A 
new  statute  authorized  the  Governor  to  appoint  counsel  to 
aid  the  Solicitor  and  the  Governor  took  this  step.  This  was, 
in  fact,  all  he  could  do,  unless  a  Judge  had  informed  him 
that  the  process  of  a  State  Court  was  not  being  obeyed,  had 
set  out  that  the  civil  law  was  not  powerful  enough  and  had 
asked  for  troops.  But  there  was  really  no  danger  of  a  call 
for  troops  being  made.  When  Judge  Long  pronounced  judg- 
ment on  the  Southern  Railway  he  gave  it  the  option  to  obey 
the  law,  pending  the  appeal  to  the  Supreme  Court  and  to 
take  a  nominal  fine ;  that  is,  to  put  the  rate  law  into  effect  at 
once  and  let  the  matter  go  before  the  higher  Courts  in  the 
quiet  and  regular  way,  and  thus!  fully  test  the  question 
whether  Judge  Long  was  right  or  wrong  in  his  ruling. 

It  is  a  matter  of  fact  that  while  Governor  Glenn  was  con- 
sidering what  was  to  be  done,  and  getting  ready  to  deliver  his 
attack  upon  the  railroad,  Judge  Long  acted,  and  that  act  was 
one  of  the  most  momentous  in  all  the  State's  history.  The 
Governor,   therefore,   though  head   of  the   State,   became   a 


6 

follower  of  the  Judge  in  action,  and  very  properly  so,  and 
this  shows  that  the  Judge  not  only  acted  without  direction, 
but  upon  his  own  motion  and  force. 

The  public  sentiment  of  North  Carolina,,  and  that  without 
regard  to  politics,  is  behind  Judge  Long. 


(From  Governor  Glenn's  letter  to  the  public,  July  29,  1907.) 

*  *  *  On  the  8th  of  July,  1907,  the  Hon.  B.  F.  Long, 
one  of  the  ablest  and  most  conscientious  judges  in  the  State, 
of  his  own  motion,  hastened  action  by  boldly  and  ably  charg- 
ing the  grand  jury  of  Wake  County,  that  it  was  its  duty  to 
immediately  indict  the  railroads  for  violating  the  rate  law. 


(Press  Dispatch,  August  4,  1907.) 

*  *  *  The  stubborn  resistance  in  North  Carolina,  be- 
gun in  the  county  of  Wake,  was  as  patriotic  and  as  far-reach- 
ing as  the  Mecklenburg  Declaration  of  1775.  If  the  public 
had  not  supported  Judge  Long  neither  North  Carolina  nor 
Virginia    would    have    been    able    to    enforce    their    laws. 


(Judge  R.  W.  Winston  in  South  Atlantic  Quarterly,  October,  1907.) 

*  *  *  During  the  month  of  July,  Wake  Criminal 
Court  convened  in  Raleigh,  Judge  Long  presiding.  In  ad- 
dressing the  grand  jury  Judge  Long,  as  is  the  North  Carolina 
custom,  delivered  a  charge  reminding  the  jury  of  its  duties 
towards  the  State  and  the  people  thereof,  and  directing  them 
very  particularly  to  inquire  whether  the  railroads  of  the 
State  were  violating  the  criminal  law  in  selling  tickets  at  a 
higher  rate  than  that  provided  by  the  statute,  to  wit:  2/4 
cents  a  mile.  In  consequence  of  this  charge  Southern  Rail- 
way Ticket  Agent  Green  was  indicted  for  selling  a  ticket  in 
Raleigh  at  a  rate  exceeding  2/4  cents.  *  *  *  Trial 
Judge  Long  held  that  the  act  was  constitutional ;  that  the 
Criminal  Court  of  Wake  County  had  jurisdiction;  that  the 
act  was  self-executing;  that  it  stood  alone  and  was  not  to  be 
taken  in  connection  with  other  railroad  legislation  enacted 


at  former  sessiuiis  of  the  legislature.  The  trial  judge  like- 
wise held  that  the  act  did  not  impinge  upon  the  Fourteenth 
Amendment  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  The 
jury  found  both  the  ticket  agent  and  the  Southern  Railway 
guilty  of  a  misdemeanor  in  selling  a  ticket  at  a  higher  rate 
than  2/4  cents.  The  agent,  promising  not  to  sell  tickets 
again,  was  not  punished,  and  the  same  temis  were  offered  to 
the  Southern  Railway  if  it  would  obey  the  act  of  1907.  The 
Southern  Railway  refused  to  desist  from  violating  the  act 
and  was  fined  by  the  court  the  sum  of  $30,000.  From  this 
judgment  an  appeal  was  taken  to  the  Supreme  Court  of 
!North  Carolina,  where  it  will  be  argued  during  the  present 
month. 

It  is  interestino;  to  note  that  while  Ticket  Agent   Green 

was  in  custody  of  the  sheriff  of  Wake  County,  i.  e.,  during  his 

trial,  the  Southern  Railway  applied  to  Judge  Pritchard  for 

a  writ  of  habeas  corpus  asking  his  discharge  on  the  ground 

that   he  was   protected   by   the   injunctive   order  theretofore 

granted  by  the  Circuit  Court.     There  is  no  doubt  that  the 

ticket  agent  would  have  been  taken  from  the  Wake  County 

sheriff  by  a  United   States  marshal   and   set   at  liberty  by 

Judge  Pritchard,  who  went  from  his  home  in  Asheville  to 

the  Criminal  Court  in  Raleigh,  but  for  a  coup  oV  etat  of  the 

Wake  Criminal  Court.     Judge  Long  released  the  ticket  agent 

from  the  sheriff  and  took  him  in  his  own  custody. 
******* 

The  writ  of  habeas  corpus  was  not  executed.     *     *     * 


(Baltimore  Sun,  December  5,  1907.) 

The  right  of  the  State  to  enforce  its  criminal  laws  without 
interference  by  the  national  government  or  its  courts  is  un- 
compromisingly upheld  by  the  Xorth  Carolina  Supreme 
Court. 

In  other  words,  the  Federal  courts,  it  is  declared,  have  no 
power  to  interfere  by  injunction  with  the  operations  of  the 
State  courts  in  the  administration  and  enforcement  of  the 
State  laws. 


8 

The  bill  now  pending  in  the  Federal  court  to  restrain  the 
State  officials  from  enforcing  the  rate  law  is  pronounced  to 
be  undoubtedly  an  action  against  the  State  itself,  and,  there- 
fore, not  to  be  maintained,  under  the  Eleventh  Amendment 
to  the  Federal  Constitution. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  indictment  and  criminal  proceed- 
ings against  the  Southern  Railway  are  dismissed,  the  court 
affirming  that  the  rate  law,  while  providing  for  indictment  of 
the  officers  and  agents  of  a  corporation,  does  not  contemplate 
the  indictment  of  the  corporation  itself,  preferring  to  en- 
force obedience  by  means  of  penalties,  to  be  sued  for  by  the 
individual  aggrieved. 

The  Legislature  did  not,  it  is  pointed  out,  intend  to  inflict 
double  punishment  on  the  corporation,  and  a  corporation 
can  not  be  an  accessory  to  the  act  of  its  own  agent. 

The  issue  is  expected  to  be  fought  out  in  the  United  States 
Supreme  Court. 

(Washington  correspondence  to  the  New  York  World.) 

Washington,  D.  C,  July  23. — President  Roosevelt  has 
been  given  the  most  severe  shock  of  his  political  career  by 
the  action  of  Circuit  Judge  Jeter  C.  Pritchard  in  granting  a 
writ  of  habeas  corpus  to  employees  of  the  Southern  Railway, 
convicted  of  violating  the  State  laws  of  North  Carolina. 
Nothing  more  unfortunate  and  regrettable  could  have  hap- 
pened to  the  president  at  this  time.  Administration  lieu- 
tenants here  privately  admit  that  the  president  has  been  hung 
up  by  the  ears  through  the  procedure  of  Judge  Pritchard. 

Neither  President  Roosevelt  nor  high  department  of  jus- 
tice officials  desired  Judge  Pritchard  to  issue  his  writ  of 
habeas  corpus.  Expert  legal  authorities  declare  that  he  has 
no  jurisdiction  in  the  matter  at  issue.  It  is  believed  here 
that  Judge  Pritchard  was  led  away  by  political  motives  or 
misconceived  ideas  of  duty  and  committed  a  grievous  blun- 
der, which  threatens  to  entail  serious  difficulties  upon  the 
administration. 

Officials  in  the  Department  of  Justice  hold  that  the  case  in 
North  Carolina  was  purely  a  question  for  the  State  courts 


9 

to  determine,  and  that  Judge  Pritchard,  when  appealed  to 
by  the  Southern  Railway  should  have  refused  to  act. 

They  say  the  road  had  ample  redress ;  that  it  could  have 
obtained  a  stay  of  execution  and  taken  an  appeal  to  the  Com- 
mon Pleas  Court,  and  from  that  to  the  State  Supreme  Court. 
From  that  tribunal  an  appeal  could  have  been  taken  to  the 
United  States  Supreme  Court.  These  officials  say  that  the 
action  of  Judge  Pritchard  establishes  the  first  precedent  of 
record  in  which  Federal  courts  have  interfered  in  a  purely 
State  matter.  They  refer  to  the  recent  course  pursued  by  a 
Federal  judge  in  Nebraska,  when  a  similar  action  was 
brought  before  him,  who  refused  to  assume  jurisdiction  and 
said  it  was  a  question  for  appeal  to  the  various  State  courts. 
They  expected  Judge  Pritchard  to  follow  the  same  course. 

It  is  frankly  admitted  that  President  Roosevelt  would  like 
the  Federal  government  to  exercise  control  over  interstate 
railroads  without  reference  to  State  laws,  but  he  is  convinced 
that  this  can  not  be  done  without  further  legislation  by  Con- 
gress. This  question  was  raised  and  discussed  when  J.  Pier- 
pont  Morgan,  Charles  S.  Mellen,  A.  B.  Stickney,  B.  F. 
Yoakum,  and  other  leading  railroad  magnates  conferred  with 
the  president,  each  being  told  that  further  legislation  by  Con- 
gress was  desired  to  increase  the  jurisdiction  of  the  govern- 
ment over  transportation  companies.  Each  of  these  men 
urged  the  president  to  make  a  definite  statement  in  a  speech 
or  otherwise,  thereby  averting  panicky  conditions  and  pre- 
venting depreciation  in  the  value  of  railroad  securities. 

The  president  finally  yielded  to  this  persuasion,  and  in  a 
speech  took  the  Knox  idea  that  the  line  between  interstate 
and  intrastate  commerce  is  so  delicate  that  great  care  must 
be  exercised  in  determining  it.  He  expressed  the  opinion 
that  the  Federal  government  should  have  full  control  and 
that  legislation  to  that  end  should  be  enacted.  Inferentially, 
he  admitted  that  the  government  could  not  interfere  with  a 
purely  State  affair  in  which  railroads  are  concerned.  He  de- 
cided to  take  no  railroad  stand  until  the  necessary  laws  were 
enacted  by  Congress. 


10 

It  is  precisely  because  of  this  attitude  that  the  president 
is  so  shocked  at  the  stand  taken  by  Judge  Pritchard.  When 
the  situation  became  acute  in  North  Carolina  the  president 
grew  apprehensive  and  uneasy.  He  requested  Attorney  Gen- 
eral Bonaparte  to  avert  .the  threatened  clash  between  the 
Federal  and  State  courts.  Assistant  Attorney  General  Ed- 
ward T.  Sanford  was  then  taking  his  vacation  in  North  Caro- 
lina. He  was  ordered  by  Mr.  Bonaparte  to  see  the  officials 
of  the  Southern  Bail  way  and  induce  them  to  secure  a  stay  of 
execution  and  take  successive  appeals  through  the  various 
State  courts  until  their  case  would  be  brought  to  the  United 
States  Supreme  Court,  where  it  was  promised  expedition 
should  it  be  requested  by  the  Department  of  Justice.  He 
was  not  instructed  to  see  Judge  Pritchard,  as  such  a  course 
might  be  construed  as  interference  by  the  executive  with  the 
judiciary. 

(Raleigh  News  and  Observer,  January  6,  1912.) 

Hon.  Benjamin  Franklin  Long  of  Iredell,  long  Superior 
Court  Judge,  announces  that  his  name  will  not  be  presented 
for  nomination  as  Associate  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court. 
He  is  one  of  the  ablest  and  most  useful  of  our  Superior  Court 
judges,  and  in  every  time  of  crisis  gave  evidence  of  courage 
and  fidelity,  as  well  as  of  marked  ability.  The  judges  re- 
gard it  as  a  promotion  to  be  taken  from  the  Superior  Court 
to  the  Supreme  Court  bench,  but  there  is  no  comparison  in 
the  good  that  can  be  done  in  the  two  positions.  A  Supreme 
Court  judge  holds  an  exalted  and  responsible  position,  but 
the  Superior  Court  judge  holds  a  position  equally  as  exalted 
with  tenfold  more  opportunity  for  usefulness.  The  truth 
is  that  the  Superior  Court  judge  holds  the  biggest  office  in 
the  State  for  its  effect  upon  the  people.  When  he  goes  to 
hold  court,  the  county  gathers  to  hear  his  charge  to  the 
grand  jury.  The  right  sort  of  judge  by  his  charges,  his  sen- 
tences, his  wise  upholding  of  law,  is  the  only  great  official 
who  directly  touches  the  lives  of  the  masses.  It  is  to  the 
credit  of  those  judicial  officers  that  most  of  them  appreciate 


11 

the  door  to  usefulness,  enter  it,  and  are  the  agencies  of  edu- 
cation and  law  enforcement. 

Judge  Long  has  made  a.  great  Superior  Court  judge,  and 
while  his  friends  will  be  disappointed  that  they  can  not  vote 
for  him  for  a  place  on  the  Supreme  Court  bench  they  must 
recognize  that  his  position  is  one  in  which  he  can  exert  a 
wider  influence  for  good  than  in  any  other  official  position  in 
the  State. 

It  has  been  the  duty  of  Judge  Long  to  preside  at  two  trials 
that  have  become  celebrated  in  the  annals  of  Xorth  Caro- 
lina— the  trial  of  the  Southern  Railway  agent  in  Wake 
County  who,  by  instructions  of  the  president  of  the  South- 
ern Railway,  violated  the  rate  law  of  the  State,  and  the  Shem- 
well  case,  where  the  defendant  held  up  a  Southern  Railway 
train  by  drawing  a  pistol  on  the  railroad  conductor.  In  both 
cases  Judge  Long  held  the  scales  of  justice  even  and  imposed 
just  but  not  severe  sentences.  His  action  in  the  case  in 
Wake  County  was  of  national  interest  and  importance.  The 
General  Assembly  had  passed  a  law.  The  Southern  Railway 
defied  it  and  went  into  a  federal  court  where  it  obtained  an 
injunction  against  the  State  law.  It  was  a  time  of  deep 
feeling.  Would  Xorth  Carolina  abdicate  ?  Would  its 
courts  lie  down  and  permit  the  solemn  acts  of  its  legislature 
to  be  flouted  ?  Would  the  judge  presiding  at  Wake  court 
be  ignorant  of  the  effect  of  no  action,  or  would  he  measure 
up  to  the  highest  duty  any  Superior  Court  Judge  has  been 
called  upon  to  perform  in  a  generation  ?  These  were  the 
questions  uppermost  in  the  public  mind,  debated  by  the  peo- 
ple and  discussed  by  the  press.  Judge  Benjamin  Franklin 
Long  was  the  Superior  Court  judge.  He  kept  his  own  coun- 
sel and  the  only  thing  known  was  that  after  investigating 
the  law  he  would  obey  his  oath  of  office.  When  the  day 
came,  he  measured  up  to  the  high  duty  of  a  judicial  officer. 
He  wanted  no  parade,  no  rigorous  punishment,  no  persecu- 
tion, but  he  would  not  tolerate  any  defiance  of  the  laws  of 
Xorth  Carolina  by  corporation  or  individual.  He  saved  the 
day  and  when  the  attempt  was  made  to  defy  the  process  of 


12 

the  courts  Governor  Glenn,  with  the  same  courageous  sense 
of  duty  as  characterized  Judge  Long,  saw  to  it  that  the  laws 
of  North  Carolina  were  respected  by  the  defendant  corpora- 
tion and  all  its  officers  and  employees.  That  incident  is  one 
that  should  not  be  forgotten,  and  never  will  patriotic  North 
Carolinians  cease  to  be  thankful  that  at  that  crisis  Benjamin 
Franklin  Long  was  presiding  over  Wake  Superior  Court  and 
Robert  Brodnax  Glenn  was  the  chief  executive  of  North 
Carolina,  and  that  these  brave  men  truly  expounded  and 
truly  enforced  the  laws  of  North  Carolina.  If  the  biggest 
corporation  doing  business  in  the  State  had  been  permitited 
then  to  defy  the  plain  law  of  North  Carolina,  who  would 
have  had  any  respect  for  North  Carolina  laws  ?  That  cour- 
ageous judge  and  courageous  governor  taught  the  world  the 
lesson  that  North  Carolina  laws  were  to  be  obeyed. 


(Salisbury  Post,  January  7,  1912.) 

That  was  a  manly  statement  in  Judge  B.  F.  Long's  card 
in  the  Statesville  Landmark,  announcing  that  he  would  not 
be  a  candidate  for  the  Democratic  nomination  for  Associate 
Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court.  He  gave  as  his  reason  that 
Judges  Hoke  and  Brown  were  serving  their  first  terms,  and 
he  did  not  desire  to  create  dissension  in  the  party  by  enter- 
ing the  race.  He  also  gave  another  reason:  He  did  not 
feel  like  devoting  his  time  to  a  campaign  which  he  feels  is 
needed  in  the  discharge  of  his  present  duties. 


13 


The  Lynching  Case,  1906 

(Charlotte  Observer,  August  8,  1906.) 

"God  Almighty  reigns  and  the  law  is  still  supreme,"  is  a 
strong  sentence  from  Judge  Long  to  the  crowd  in  Rowan 
County  court-house  yesterday  morning.  If  either  of  these 
propositions  is  open  to  doubt,  then  we  are  adrift  without 
chart  or  compass.  "This  court  will  not  adjourn,"  he  added, 
"until  this  matter  is  investigated."  Here  is  a  man  and  a 
judge.  Mobs  may  rage  around  him  but  they  will  not  cause 
him  to  lose  his  iron  nerve  nor  disturb  his  imperturbable  self- 
control.  If  there  be  a  law  through  which  these  lynchers  can 
be  reached,  and  he  have  but  half  cooperation  in  the  execution 
of  his  purpose  to  bring  them  to  justice,  he  will  smite  at  least 
some  of  the  guilty  with  a  mailed  hand. 


(Indianapolis  Star,  August  12,  1906.) 

It  will  be  impossible  to  exaggerate  or  overestimate  the  tre- 
mendous service  rendered  to  his  State  and  to  his  race  by 
Judge  B.  F.  Long  of  Statesville,  1ST.  C,  who  has  just  sen- 
tenced a  white  lyncher  to  fifteen  years  in  the  penitentiary 
for  his  part  in  the  recent  murderous  riot  near  Charlotte. 
Upon  the  perpetration  of  that  outrage  Judge  Long,  together 
with  a  few  other  high  minded  and  courageous  spirits  of  the 
State,  bestirred  themselves  to  purge  the  fair  name  of  North 
Carolina  from  the  disgrace  that  had  fallen  upon  it.  At  the 
time  of  the  lynching  they  protested  vehemently  and  persist- 
ently against  the  purpose  of  the  mob,  and  now  their  public 
spirit  and  patriotism  have  achieved  the  signal  triumph  of  the 
first  conviction  in  the  State  for  lynching  negroes.  This  brave 
and  upright  judge  and  all  who  have  cooperated  with  hirn 
have  rendered  their  fellow  citizens  and  the  cause  of  self- 
government  everywhere  a  service  which  is  worthy  the  best 
traditions  of  Carolinian  chivalry  and  statesmanship.  The 
virile  brains  and  exalted  sentiment  that  lie  firmly  imbedded 
in  the  historic  Southern  character  can  hardly  fail  to  be 
moved  by  this  splendid  example  in  wise  and  brave  adminis- 
tration of  the  law. 


14 

(Philadelphia  Public  Ledger,  August  12,  1906.) 

By  a  single  act,  made  possible  by  a  just  and  fearless  judge, 
North  Carolina  has  scored  a  signal  triumph.  It  has  placed 
lynch  law  under  the  ban  and  sent  an  exemplar  of  this  type  of 
anarchy  to  prison  for  a  term  of  fifteen  years.  The  matter 
was  carried  through  with  speed,  but  with  the  utmost  deco- 
rum. The  lynching  occurred  at  Salisbury  on  Monday  night 
of  last  week.  On  Friday  of  the  same  week  the  leader  of  the 
mob  heard  his  sentence,  after  due  trial,  the  jury  being  out 
thirty-five  minutes. 

Such  a  result,  it  will  be  admitted,  comes  to  the  country  as 
a  surprise.  It  is  not  in  consonance  with  the  general  notion 
as  to  North  Carolina  sentiment.  The  victims  of  the  lynch- 
ers were  negroes  and  the  mob  was  made  up  of  white  men. 
There  was  no  doubt  as  to  the  guilt  of  the  victims,  yet  there 
was  no  excuse  for  lynching  them,  as  they  were  in  jail  and 
the  formal  trial  would  have  ended  their  careers  without  dis- 
gracing a  commonwealth  by  the  manner  of  the  climax. 

The  spirit  of  the  homicidal  mob  is  always  the  spirit  of  the 
criminal.  Its  clamor  for  justice  is  the  voice  of  a  senseless 
passion  for  violence,  as  well  as  for  vengeance,  which  it  is 
not  the  right  either  of  individuals  or  of  collections  of  indi- 
viduals to  inflict.  In  keeping  with  this  theory  was  the  cir- 
cumstance that  the  man  just  condemned  for  the  part  he  took 
was  an  ex-convict,  a  citizen  without  standing,  himself  a  bur- 
den to  the  community  wherein  he  essayed  the  role  of  moral 
censor.  The  elimination  of  him  and  his  kind  will  be  a  dis- 
tict  uplift. 

Judge  Long  is  entitled  to  the  gratitude  of  the  State.  A 
few  more  such  men  on  the  bench,  backed  by  courageous 
officials,  and  lynching  would  become  a  thing  of  the  past.  He 
assumed  the  attitude  that  he  knew  to  be  right,  and  that  the 
world  approves,  but  that  has  been  frowned  upon  by  thug  and 
ruffian  until  to  assume  it  and  maintain  it  was  deemed  well- 
nigh  impossible. 


15 

(Southwestern  Presbyterian,  New  Orleans,  August  15,  1906.) 

Judge  B.  F.  Long,  of  North  Carolina,  a  man  for  whose 
character,  ability,  and  love  of  justice  we  have  from  personal 
acquaintance  and  experience  the  most  profound  admiration, 
has  done  much  towards  putting  down  the  lawlessness  of 
lynching  by  his  efforts  in  connection  with  the  serious  out- 
break in  Salisbury  last  week.  The  first  conviction  and  pen- 
alty of  the  kind  ever  secured  and  imposed  in  the  State  were 
brought  about  through  his  vigor  and  impartiality.  All  honor 
to  the  upright  judge. 


(Savannah  News,  August  12,  1906.) 

Hall  is  the  first  man  in  North  Carolina  convicted  of  lynch- 
ing, and  he  was  convicted  of  lynching  negroes.  It  is  a  safe 
proposition  that  there  will  be  little,  if  any,  more  interference 
with  the  course  of  the  law  in  Rowan  County,  or  even  in 
North  Carolina.  A  judge  has  been  found  there  with  suffi- 
cient backbone  to  enforce  the  law  against  lynchers,  and  other 
judges  will  follow  his  example,  if  the  necessity  for  doing  so 
should  arise,  but  it  is  doubtful  if  it  will  arise.  It  wasn't 
thought  possible  to  find  a  jury  that  would  convict  for  lynch- 
ing, but  sentiment  is  changing.  There  has  been  a  conviction, 
and  there  will  be  no  more  lynching  as  long  as  the  belief  pre- 
vails that  lynchers  will  be  punished. 


(Raleigh  News  and  Observer,  August  12,  1906.) 

The  conviction  and  sentence  of  George  Hall,  at  Salisbury, 
for  conspiring  to  break  into  the  jail  for  the  purpose  of 
lynching  the  negroes  charged  with  having  committed  the 
Lyerly  murders,  is  of  momentous  importance,  not  only  to  the 
State,  but  to  the  entire  South. 

It  will  serve  notice  to  the  country  at  large  that  the  South 
is  not  given  over  to  lawlessness ;  that  there  is  still  power  in 
the  courts  to  punish  for  the  crime  which  is  the  supreme  con- 


16 

tempt  of  their  authority;  and  that  there  is  a  public  senti- 
ment remaining  among  the  people  which  will  aid  the  officers 
of  the  law  in  protecting  the  name  of  the  State  from  the  dis- 
grace of  mob  violence.  *  *  *  The  court  has  so  far 
justified  its  existence.  If  only  the  people  shall  hold  up  its 
hands  to  the  end,  no  matter  what  the  duty  involves,  the 
cause  of  justice  and  civilization  will  have  won  another 
notable  triumph. 


Photomount 

Pamphlet 

Binder 

Gaylord  Bros. 

Makers 

Syracuse,  N.  Y. 

PAT.  JAN  21,  1908 


UNIVERSITY  OF  N.C  «  CHAPS.  HILL 


00042093607 


FOR  USE  ONLY  IN 
THE  NORTH  CAROLINA  COLLECTION 


